For a long time, I thought the goal was to outrun self-doubt.
To win the game by becoming so successful, so impressive, so damn accomplished that the questions in my head would finally quiet down.
Spoiler alert: they didn’t.
Not when I hit revenue goals.
Not when I coached Fortune 50 executives.
Not even when I launched The Unworthy Leader Podcast, a space designed to explore the very doubt I carried.
In this week’s episode, I sat down with Johnny Anderson, host of The Impodsters podcast, for a conversation that cracked something open in me. Not because we talked about imposter phenomenon—that’s familiar territory. But because we got painfully honest about the programming we inherited long before our first job title.
Johnny grew up in a blue-collar town where phrases like “we don’t do that” and “people like us don’t…” were as common as Sunday dinners. Same. Different geography, but the script was familiar:
Don’t shine too bright.
Don’t ask for too much.
Don’t speak up unless you’re absolutely sure.
So, I built a life of certainty.
Of performing.
Of proving.
And I became a leader who was quietly terrified of being seen not knowing.
Of being asked a question I couldn’t answer.
Of being celebrated too much—for fear I wouldn’t live up to it next time.
Here’s what I haven’t said out loud until now:
I almost walked away from this work—the podcast, the coaching, the visibility—because the identity I built was rooted in being valuable, not in feeling worthy.
There’s a difference.
Being valuable means constantly doing, achieving, performing.
Being worthy means knowing your presence matters even when you’re not producing.
This distinction is what Johnny calls heworth—an internal compass that doesn’t fluctuate based on your last win or your latest feedback. We talked about the ways we unconsciously self-sabotage because we’ve mistaken our doing for our being.
And we named the elephant in every boardroom: most leadership mistakes are rooted in unresolved self-doubt, not incompetence.
That truth hit me hard.
So I want to ask you what I asked myself after we hit stop on the recording:
What would change in your life if you stopped trying to fix your self-doubt—and started listening to it instead?
What might it be telling you about your past?
What part of you is asking for care, not correction?
This episode is about more than imposter thoughts.
It’s about the silent inheritance we carry—and the permission we need to rewrite it.
If you’ve ever felt like the rooms you’re in were never built with you in mind…
If you’ve ever downplayed your ambition because it felt too risky to want more…
If you’ve ever mistaken discomfort for disqualification…
Please listen.
💭 And if you’re ready to explore whether your leadership is grounded in self-trust or quietly shaped by fear, I invite you to take this free self-assessment:
👉 Take the quiz now
You are not alone.
You are not behind.
And your worth was never up for debate.
